500 Friends

We now have over 500 households who have formally signed up as friends of the lovewadebridge campaign, which is a larger level of support than Tavistock had when they fought off Sainsbury's. We mustn't be complacent, however, and if you all can persuade more friends to sign up, then so much the better.

Morrisons have applied!

The planning application for Morrisons in Wadebridge has today been received by the planning department.

Still waiting for those planning applications to arrive, but in the mean-time plenty to do. We’ve been taking an interest in updating the town plan - here’s the link to the 2004 version – and looking at ways to invigorate the town centre whatever comes along. Possibilities include the shop local loyalty scheme, the campaign to highlight the strength of Wadebridge’s independent sector locally and nationally (“declare independence”, “take these chains off your shopping” etc), free parking scheme for independent trading, Covent Garden type atmosphere in Molesworth Street with street entertainers, as well as a local and national reputation as an eco-shopping town.

Tesco now joining the party

So Tesco has snuck under the radar and has planning permission to expand its store to offer the full range of everything nearly every independent shop in Wadebridge sells. If we could have all these developments without risking what gives the town its life, there would be no need to fuss. We could invite a few more superstores than those already queuing up to join the party. But at some point these expanded out-of-town retail developments will obviously knock the heart out of the town centre. It is as inevitable as night follows day that they will do to Wadebridge what they have done to every other market town. Others say that we aren’t like other places, and so can absorb much more than they can. But are the benefits of out-of-town superstores worth the risk of being turned into the sort of hollowed-out town that most others have become?

Lovewadebridge isn’t behaving like a rabbit in the headlights as these developments roll down the track. It is important to accentuate the positive and make Wadebridge more resilient whatever comes along. For example we are working with others to establish free parking for all town centre shopping, developing a buy local loyalty discount scheme, and exploring opportunities for sustainable employment in the town. So while we are watching supermarket developments very closely, it is also crucial to focus on the bigger picture. We are giving as much attention to what we do want as to preventing what would be harmful. We need as much input as possible to make sure these ideas have as wide support as possible.

In case you had not heard, this is to say that the Cornwall Council Cabinet this morning felt unable to rush ahead with its plan to dispose of the Higher Trenant site. Thank you to those of you who made it into Truro, and to all the pressure that you have all collectively applied to force some semblance of sense to prevail for now. However they did not comply with all the Scrutiny Committee's recommendations in full, in that they have declared the Higher Trenant land next to the building surplus to requirements. This decision means that they are foreclosing their review's option of expansion for Higher Trenant, and that they are possibly opening the way for an early sale for an out-of-town supermarket.

This outcome makes it all the more urgent for us to expand our number of friends of lovewadebridge, thus adding weight to our campaign. You can join our friends by emailing your details to friends@lovewadebridge.com, or via our website at www.lovewadebridge.com/Friends.html

So in summary, this is definitely progress, but we must strengthen our campaign in preparation for the next phase. Again thank you for your support. We can only do this together.

Cabinet Meeting to determine the future of Higher Trenant offices Wednesday 10th February

Cornwall Council are to hold a public cabinet meeting to determine the future of the Higher Trenant council offices at County Hall, Truro on Wednesday 10th February at 10am.

http://democracy.cornwall.gov.uk/ieListMeetings.aspx?CommitteeId=577

The current proposal for the Higher Trenant Offices is to sell them and put the proceeds towards building a new office complex 5 miles down the road in Bodmin. It is believed that the council has had an offer of £10,000,000 from Sainsbury's for the site and this money would go towards the conservative £12,500,000 estimated for the build of the new Bodmin offices. It leaves a large shortfall and would not appear to make good financial sense.
The Scrutiny committee advising the Cabinet, publicly met last Wednesday where they unanimously concluded that the Cabinet should not proceed with the sale of Higher Trenant and they should include the site in their wider review of office needs, and also consider a full refurbishment and even expansion on the existing site.
The cabinet meeting is open to the public and questions can be put forward in writing (letter or email) but must be received no later than Midday on Monday 8th February to the head of legal and democratic services. Stephen Frankel of Lovewadebridge has put his question to the Cabinet,

What is the reason for separating out the Higher Trenant site for early disposal before Cornwall Council's review of the appropriate long term disposition of office space has been completed?

Good question!
I look forward to seeing you all on Wednesday at County Hall, please see the events section for directions.

Brief review of last Thursdays council meeting

Thanks to those of you who managed to get to Camelford last night. Reasoned argument is finally having an impact, and the Scrutiny Committee agreed with us.

The Scrutiny Committee recommended that the Cabinet should not proceed with the sale of Higher Trenant, should include the site in their wider review of office needs, and should consider a full refurbishment and even expansion on the site.